AMANA SIDE BY SIDE REFRIGERATOR TROUBLESHOOTING

HE was President Idi Amin's head cook but also served other presidents. Otonde Odera has a riveting story of leaving Naguru death chambers alive but he also has tales of his life as a presidential chef over the years,former president's refrigerator and that the former head of state never ate body parts.

Otonde Odera, now aged 70, struggles to hold back tears as he recalls the four nights of terror he spent staring at death in the drab Naguru police station cells outside Kampala.
“To my shock and disbelief, mean-faced soldiers stormed my house one fateful night, yanked me away from my terrified family and frog-marched me to a waiting vehicle, even as my wife screamed frantically. I was under arrest for planning to kill the President, they croaked.

“After a hellish drive to the unknown, I was tossed like something unwanted into a dark cell full of people waiting to die for various cooked-up offences against the state. The killers, all towering brutes drawn from Amin’s Kakwa tribe, used bludgeons and machetes to finish off the hapless prisoners who numbered in their hundreds.

As the prisoners fell one after the other, the killers would say in Kiswahili: tangulia tutakutana kwa Mungu (go ahead, we shall meet in God’s dominion).

Otonde re-lives the four nights of horror during which he waited for a weapon to strike him on the nape of his neck, sending him to embrace his ancestors. “On the fourth night, I heard someone shout ‘Wapi Otonde? (Where is Otonde?)’ and I mumbled the last prayers to my creator as my entire body went numb. With my eyes tightly closed for the anticipated final moment, I was suddenly grabbed and hustled into a waiting police 999 car that immediately sped away towards State House. I sat dazed in a stupor.

“My wife and children were there, waiting. She was apparently my saviour, having cried all along that I was innocent and could not harm the president I so dearly loved. We were put into a lorry and driven to the Kenya/Uganda border at Busia. The air of freedom flowed into my lungs as soon as I was safely on Kenyan soil and all the way to Asembo, my rural home.

Otonde says he had thoroughly enjoyed his work under ldi Amin until some envious people poisoned the President’s mind with lies that he intended to kill him.

“He trusted me to cook for him after the ouster of Dr. Milton Obote for whom I had cooked since 1962,” says Otonde.
“Amin was a better boss — warm to his employees and generous with his money.” Obote was reserved and mean,” he concludes, an air of finality accompanying his words.

As though reading the question in my mind, Otonde adds: “Amin ate normal food and preferred pilau — rice cooked with spices in a style popular with Muslims. He relished Muslim food.” Tickled, I blurt out: “You mean, his refrigerator contained only ordinary foods? No human liver, spleen or heads as is generally rumoured?

Otonde smothers my curiosity with a crackling laugh. “Take it from me that Amin was never a cannibal. I took care of his kitchen and refrigerator for years. There was nothing strange. Maybe people thought he ate body parts because of the many killings he ordered, including those of two of his wives, Norah and Kay. I have told you of my narrow escape. Not that he intended to eat me. He never ate human flesh.”

It is also important to note that Amin was a practising Muslim and hence a teetotaller. He loved fun and relished dancing. He married Madina because of her dancing skills. But it was Obote whom Otonde served longest. “He was a bachelor when he took me as a cook. Another of his employees, called Joseph Odongo, who hailed from Gem in Siaya District and had liked my cooking, introduced me to him.

“His wife, Miria, came into his life after I had been with him for a while. I was his cook when, with Amin’s help, he successfully flushed the Kabaka, Sir Edward Muteesa out of Mengo and into exile and declared himself President of the Republic of Uganda. My fortunes changed with the revolution. A sleek Mercedes Benz car was immediately assigned to me, because I was the President’s cook. Miria’s arrival at State House certainly had an impact on Obote’s trusted head cook.

Otonde, with a wry grin says, “She was jittery about Obote’s liking for me, fearing that it would interfere with her influence. She actually attempted to have me shoved aside for a person of her choice, but Obote learnt about her machinations and foiled the attempt. I remained pretty secure in my position.”

Otonde, who had learnt how to drive while in Uganda, managed to secure a job with Kenya’s National Housing Corporation (NHC) after he was thrown out by Amin. “After a stint without a job, I was hired to drive then NHC managing director Samuel Ayany. But, as fate would have it, Obote returned to power in 1980 following the brief regimes of Yusuf Lule, Godfrey Binaisa and Paulo Muwanga. No sooner was he at State House than Obote sent word that he wanted me back.

“The p

I don't really like beef stew. I know, weird, huh? I like it more than pot roast but even as a little kid I was never terribly fond of beef stew. I think it's a long cooked beef thing. But last week I wanted to invite friends over for dinner and only a weeknight could work. That meant crock pot (we had a party to go to that evening so time was too short for much cooking at all), but I needed a relatively failsafe recipe. I was entertaining guests after all. Well, crock pots are great for things like stew. So I got out all my recipe books and got on my googling hat... and came up with this. Beef stew to awe those who don't like beef stew :)

Crock Pot Beef Stew with Roasted Root Vegetables

2 1/2 lb chuck roast
1/3 cup flour
1 tsp salt, plus more
1/2 tsp pepper
3/4 tsp ground sage
cooking fat of your choice (bacon grease?!? or lard or coconut oil)
1 onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 cup red wine
1 cup chicken stock
1 1/2 - 2 cups beef broth
2 tbs tomato paste
1 1/2 cups chopped carrots
2 bay leaves
Small sprig of rosemary
1/2 cup frozen peas
1 tsp red wine vinegar
A pan full of chopped root vegetables - I used 3 smallish potatoes, 1 turnip and 1 1/2 large parsnips. Onions, carrots, garlic and sweet potatoes would all be wonderful.
Oil, salt and pepper for the vegetables

The night before:
Trim and cut beef into fork sized chunks. Remove most of the gristle and fat, but some will add texture and flavor to the stew.
In a zip bag or pie plate combine flour, 1 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp black pepper and ground sage. Taste to make sure it is salty enough to not just taste like flour. Mix beef chunks into flour mixture and coat well.
Heat cooking oil in a cast iron skillet and cover the bottom of the pan with beef chunks. Make sure to not crowd the pan and brown until at least a couple sides of each chunk are good and browned. Remove to a bowl that will fit all the beef, easily be covered and can go in your refrigerator. Repeat with the rest of the meat When all the meat is browned deglaze the pan with red wine, stir and scrape the browned bits off the bottom and simmer for a minute or two to reduce the liquid. Scrape the liquid into the bowl with the beef. (I did two batches of meat in my 12 inch cast iron and then deglazed the pan, rinsed it and did a third batch. I didn't want the browned bits to get too burned but your pan/stove/etc may be different).
Wipe or rinse the pan and heat up another tablespoon or so of fat. Sautee the onions and celery until tender, seasoning with salt, pepper and maybe some thyme, or ground rosemary or even more ground sage. Deglaze or scrape the pan and add the vegetables to the bowl of beef. Place the bowl in the fridge.
Wash and chop root vegetables into 1 1/2 - 2 inch chunks. Place in a zippy bag or large covered container in the fridge.

In the morning:
Place the carrots in the bottom of your crock pot. Pour beef, onions and all the juice from the bowl in the crock pot. Combine the tomato paste with some of the stock and stir to combine. Pour the tomato and all the stock into the crock pot. I added beef broth until it was just under the level of the beef. Tuck the bay and rosemary in the liquid. I wrapped my rosemary in cheesecloth so I wouldn't have to fish out individual rosemary leaves.
Turn heat to low and cook for 8-10 hours. Mine cooked for 9 hours and was perfect.

In the evening:
Turn the oven to 375. Place chopped root vegetables in a baking pan and coat with olive or coconut oil. Salt and pepper liberally and stir to combine everything. Roast until the veggies are tender and browned. Feel free to crank the heat to 425 if they are tender but not yet brown and you are hungry. Should take 20-30 minutes depending on how big your chunks are.
Stir the stew, remove bay and rosemary and taste for seasonings. Mine didn't need any more salt but yours might. I did add a tsp of red wine vinegar and it really perked things up. I recommend you do the same :) I also left the cover off while the veggies roasted to allow everything to thicken up a bit more.
Defrost peas (I used hot water, but you could throw them frozen into the crock pot half an hour before serving if you remember, like I didn't :) and add them to the stew.
Serve by putting veggies in each bowl and pouring stew over top. Serve with buttered bread, red wine and maybe some pickled carrots or a salad.

Alternative if you don't own or don't use a crock pot:
Instead of putting beef and carrots and stock in a crock pot, put it in a heavy stock pot. Simmer on the stovetop for a couple hours, or bring to a boil and then place in a 350 degree oven for a couple hours. Proceed as above.

Hope you enjoy it as much as we did! Leftovers got eaten over rice as the vegetables went more quickly :)
Alyss